Set No Objectives so When Nothing is Accomplished you have not Failed!
Last week the Bush Administration sent half his Cabinet, lead by the Treasury Secretary, to China. The subject was Trade. Since 2001 when Bush approved the entry of China to the WTO, the trade deficit between China and the U.S. has spiraled out of control. In 2001 the trade deficit with China was $83 Billion. In 2002 $103; 2003 $124; 2004 $162; 2005 $ 202 and it is estimated for 2006 at $220 Billion. The source of this data is the Data Dissemination Branch of the U.S. Census Bureau. Following the Bush axiom of Judging by Results we have a MAJOR failure. The two main issues are Property Rights and Currency Value.
The Chinese do not respect property rights. They give lip service and publicize raids on pirated property in China but it is like a drop of water in the Pacific Ocean. This allows companies in China to replicate protected property at a fraction of the cost. They then sell those items in China which cuts off the sale of similar items by companies that have the right to make the product. Then China begins selling that same pirated merchandise outside China thus reducing the sales of legitimate products in other countries.
The second major issue is that China sets the value of its currency separate from the market. They set the valve low so that goods produced in China are cheep in the U.S. and our goods are expensive in China. That stimulates the sale of goods made in China while inhibiting the sale of U. S. goods in China.
Bush has refused to address these two issues in a way that resolves the issues. Now that the trade deficit is off the scale, he sent this delegation to China. They came back empty handed. Not a single issue was either resolved or moved closer to resolution. However the Bush Administration spokesman when asked if that meant this trip was a failure said, “NO there were no specific objective set for this visit”
Bush has developed a new way to insure he can not be accused of failure—Set No expectations and then when NOTHING is accomplished he did not fail. That will be a great comfort to all those Americans that continue to loose their jobs because of the failure of China to abide by the most basic elements of International Law and our turning a Blind Eye to their actions. How ignoring the illegal actions of China and the resultant trade deficit helps Americans should be explained by President Bush at one of his news conferences!